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Saturday, October 27, 2012

No more guessing necessary! Here are the complete images from the vintage puzzlers featured here earlier this week.

#1 "Death Has a Small Voice"

This image was from the cover of the June 1953 edition of Mystery Guild Clues. These four-page inserts were included with books that were sent out as part of the Dollar Mystery Guild book club, which was based in Garden City, New York.

The illustration is for "Death Has a Small Voice," a mystery by Frances and Richard Lockridge. The novel is part of the Mr. and Mrs. North series by the authors. The book was available to Mystery Guild members for just $1.

Also highlighted within the four-page insert is the second selection of the month — "The Singing Sands" by Josephine Tey.

#2 An (Arrow) Escape

This lad is having extreme archery issues on this old Victorian trade card (which was trimmed at the edges before it came into my hands).

I have, in my brilliance, managed to temporarily misplace the card, so I can't tell you what was printed on the reverse side. It was a 19th century company from Maryland, but that's all I recall. So I'll have to come back to that one later.

This awkward-looking boy is petting his toy tiger, of course. "The Terrible Tiger" is an illustration in "Enchanting Stories," which was published in 1940 by The John C. Winston Company. The book is the "Third Reader Level Two" in the Easy Growth in Reading series.

Friday, October 26, 2012

This week's final dessert recipe from the yellow plastic box comes courtesy of Emilie A. (according to the index card). In case you missed them, here's a rundown of the scrumdiddlyumptious recipes from earlier this week:

Blend dessert mix & coffee; prepare according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of chocolate mixture; turn remainder into crust; Spoon on half of the dessert topping; carefully spread to form on even layer. Blend remaining topping and the reserved chocolate mixture. Spoon evenly over the topping layer. Refrigerate until top is partially set, swirl attractively. Garnish with walnut halves. Set in freezer for about 4 hrs. or until firm. (I just refrigerate — not freezer.)

I hope everyone enjoyed this week's recipes and found at least one that they plan to try or pass along to a friend!

...we got hit with some minor basement flooding today when our washing machine had a meltdown, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow, unfortunately, for the full images of the Puzzlers that I posted earlier this week.

There will still be a yummy dessert recipe posted tonight, though. That post was done in advance. So check back at 8 p.m.!

Dr. Bobby Caldwell (portrayed by Mark Harmon), left, and Dr. Wayne Fiscus (Howie Mandel) take part in a lighthearted moment in an episode of "St. Elsewhere." I was an avid "St. Elsewhere" fan when I was younger and now my daughter, Sarah, is a fan of these two former "St. Elsewhere" actors. Harmon is the star of the long-running hit "NCIS" and Mandel is one of the current judges on "America's Got Talent". (Image scanned from the July 1996 issue of Television Chronicles)

Thirty years ago today — on October 26, 1982 — the first episode of "St. Elsewhere," my favorite TV show of all time, aired on NBC.

I wrote my big post on "St. Elsewhere" last year on its 29th anniversary, because I didn't feel like waiting another year. So I don't have another lengthy post this time around.

But I wanted to share the above photo and some great links to commemorate the drama's 30th anniversary:

Footnotes1. I like the Mark Harmon quote that's under the photograph: "The [St. Elsewhere] writers loved messing with the characters, and I was never anything but excited by how they messed with the characters. I gained a huge appreciation for the ­written word, and I've carried that forward [into everything] since."
2. Included in the reunion is actor Norman Lloyd, who turns 98 early next month. Lloyd says: "'St. Elsewhere' was a show that brought a sense of truth, if you will forgive that suspicious word, to television, that had not been seen before on television. The star of the show was the writing."

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Here's another recipe with peanut butter. Note that the word "Good!" is listed in the corner of the card.

Peanut butter date cookies

½ C (1 stick) butter

½ C granulated sugar

1 C firmly packed brown sugar

½ C chunk style peanut butter

3 eggs

½ C water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 C sifted flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking soda

3 C uncooked rolled oats

1 C chopped dates

Cream butter with sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs, water and vanilla and beat until creamy. Sift flour, salt and baking soda together and add to creamed mixture and blend. Add oats and dates. Mix until oats are moistened and dates are dispersed. Drop teaspoons onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350° 10-12 min. Do not over bake — will be soft and light brown. Cool for 5 min then remove from sheet. 4½ - 5 doz.

If anyone tries these (or any of this week's other desserts), come back and let us know how they turned out in the comments section.

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Can you imagine the dedication of those people who took the time to type up all of their beloved recipes on index cards — positioning the card in the typewriter until it was just right? Was your mother or grandmother one of those people?

It's a real company, though. So, clearly, I should get my daughter a life-size animatronic dinosaur for Christmas. That would win me the Dad of the Year award, right?

Seeing whereas I have imbued Sarah with my own childhood love of "Land of the Lost," it's only appropriate that I should get her a life-sized Dopey or Grumpy. Maybe this Chinese company could throw in an Animatronic Cha-Ka if I make a seven-figure purchase.1 2

Footnotes1. Animatronic Cha-Ka would be a good name for a band.
2. Phillip Paley + Ricardo Montalbán = This.

Let's have a little fun today! Here are cropped portions of five vintage images. In the comments section below, share your thoughts on what you think is going on in the full image. (I can tell you that some are illustrations and some are advertisements.) I'll put the full images up on Friday.

Monday, October 22, 2012

Here's a fudge pudding recipe for Day 2 of desserts from the yellow plastic box. (With all of these recipes, I have retained the original abbreviations, wording, and punctuation, and made fixes only where absolutely necessary.)

But, on the day of (mercifully) the final debate prior to the 2012 United States presidential election, here's a book that, coincidentally, I stumbled across recently — "The Case Against Socialized Medicine."

A screed against our current president?

Nope. It's from 1949.

A brief history: In 1943, the Wagner-Murray-Dingell Bill was a proposal to provide government health care for most U.S. citizens. This caused many Americans to enter a state of apoplexy.2 No action was taken on the bill. New versions of Wagner-Murray-Dingell were reintroduced in 1945 (at President Truman's urging) and in 1947. It was during this heated battle over what, to some, was "socialized medicine," that a non-profit lobbying group, the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, was formed.

And it was during this period that this 54-page book by Lawrence Sullivan3, with its garish purple cover, was published. Here are some verbatim excerpts from the book and its dust jacket:

This book presents in two-minute chapters the historical background of Socialized Medicine, as now advocated in the United States. It is a book of far-reaching significance, for if American medicine can be taken over by the Government, then every other activity also may be socialized under a gigantic federal bureaucracy.

During the early years of Hitler's regime, the government's medical program was looked upon by many observers as one of the greatest props of the totalitarian state.

Careful studies revealed that the average time spent by the German panel physicians in making a diagnosis is "from three to four minutes."

Nobody would be permitted to select his own physician.

The campaign for socialized medicine in the United States stems directly from Kremlin Communism.

If you haven't already guessed, this book does not represent a balanced look at the pros and cons of a national health-care plan.

Interestingly, this copy still includes some of its original ephemeral inserts, including a card with details on ordering additional copies. Here is a look at some of those inserts:

Footnotes1. And the next-to-last thing you'll find me doing is getting gussied up in a brazzle-dazzle way, like this.
2. A condition which requires health care.
3. According to the dust jacket, Lawrence Sullivan was a former Northwestern University student who had been a journalist for more than 30 years. The "about the author" text concludes with this actual sentence: "He writes from the throbbing corridors of Capitol Hill." Um.

Here are five interesting pieces of devotional ephemera, which is among the most common vintage paper that you can come across. These items get tucked away inside Bibles and hymnals. Or they get put in drawers for decades, helping them stand the test of time.

1. Reward for Sunday School attendance

The text under the illustration states:

Presbyterian Memorial
SUNDAY-SCHOOL
Presented to May Eckman
FOR REGULAR ATTENDANCE
during the Month of Mar 1887

2. Psalm 143:10 card

This flowery card, which is roughly the size of an index card, contains an excerpt of Psalm 143:10: "Teach Me to do THY WILL."

There is no other text or identifying information on the front or back.

3. Prayer card for Joseph Stanek Sr.

This is the front and back of a prayer card for Joseph Stanek Sr., who died on June 30, 1970. It measures 2¼ inches wide by 4 inches tall, and it was issued at the Joseph Mayurnick Funeral Home in Old Forge, Pennsylvania.

The cards are alternately known as memorial cards, funeral cards and holy cards.

The text on the front of this one indicates that it was printed in Italy, and there's a tiny little logo with an anchor in the lower-right corner (shown at right).

The back page of this pamphlet has a purple stamp stating it was distributed at the Pentecostal Mission on York and Altoona Streets in Enola, Pennsylvania. It also has this information regarding additional pamphlets:

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About the Author

I'm Chris Otto, a Pennsylvania resident and journalist whose hobbies and interests include old books, ephemera, history, folklore, alpacas, photography and much more. Never stop reading, learning and asking questions! I consider this blog to be a spiritual descendant of Microsoft Encarta and a companion to Wikipedia. Every piece of paper tells a story.
Reach me at chrisottopa (at) gmail.com.

As (kind of) featured in The New York Times...

Papergreat was mentioned in Stephanie Clifford's August 7, 2011, article in The New York Times titled "Shopper Receipts Join Paperless Age." Find out why, years ago, I held onto a receipt for a hot dog!

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